— Craven County commissioners meet in Havelock on Jan. 2 as Chairman Lee K. Allen dresses up as Sir Henry Havelock. The board also congratulates the winning 2011 state champion Havelock High football team, which receives a special proclamation.

— A fire burns a vacant house to ground Jan. 7 at 547 U.S. 70 near Gurganus Elementary.

— The N.C. Ferry Division proposes fees on the Cherry Branch and other ferries.

— The Havelock Tourist and Event Center gets revamped aviation exhibits as part of a celebration of 100 years of Marine Corps aviation.

— Artifacts from the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa., are added to 9/11 Memorial plans for Havelock.

— Layne Harpine takes over as the head the Havelock campus of Craven Community College.

— Probation is lifted on the F-35 program as the third B model arrives at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

— George Griffin, Havelock’s first mayor, receives the Order of Long Leaf Pine.

— Nancy Toposki, 64, of Newport, is taken to the hospital after driving her car into a Norfolk Southern train engine on Lake Road.

— Havelock Mayor Jimmy Sanders says he will replace his traditional prayer to open board meetings with a moment of silence.

— Department of Transportation officials announced that completion of the East Main Street median project would be delayed until late July and cost $830,000 more than the original $1.1 million estimate.

— The Township Six Volunteer Fire Department celebrates its 40th anniversary with a dinner at the fire house at Carolina Pines.

— Sgt. Maj. Jerry L. Bailey steps down as sergeant major at Cherry Point at the end of a 30-year Marine Corps career. Sgt. Maj. Angela M. Maness relieves him.

— Havelock moves forward with plans to spend $109,000 for a 9/11 Memorial to surround a World Trade Center artifact from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

— The Department of Defense formally submits a proposal to Congress for a 2013 and 2015 Base Realignment and Closure process.

— Volunteers turn out to repaint the American Flag at the city park stage after it had been defaced by vandals.

— A committee in the state legislature votes to put ferry fees for the Cherry Branch-Minnesott ferry on hold.

— Two Havelock woman jump to safety from a second-story window when fire breaks out in their Tryon Park apartment.

May

— About 165,000 turn out to watch the Blue Angels and other aerobatic acts at the three-day Cherry Point Air Show, which celebrates 100 years of Marine Corps aviation and the 70th anniversary of Cherry Point.

— N.C. Rep. Norman Sanderson wins a three-way primary to be the Republican candidate for the N.C. Senate seat being vacated by Jean Preston.

— James Allen Carbaugh, 50, of Havelock, dies when he is struck by a car while attempting to cross U.S. 70 on his bike on the night of May 11. A police investigation shows that Carbaugh was intoxicated and his bike had no lights or reflectors. No charges were filed.

— DOT officials announce approval of the U.S. 70-Slocum Road flyover interchange. The $22 million project is scheduled to start in 2015.

— Havelock receives a $400,000 Brownfields Community Assessment grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to begin the process of assessing and cleaning up problem sites, including the old Phoenix Recycling Corporation property.

— A former Marine Corps Community Services employee at Cherry Point, Leigh Valez, is charged with embezzling $74,000 over a 2 1/2-year period using a government credit card.

June

— About 30 Tucker Creek Middle School teachers band together to write a letter to legislators asking that they honor their commitment to raise teacher salaries.

— New tests from groundwater monitoring wells at the Phoenix Recycling site show high levels of arsenic and manganese but state officials say there is no danger to nearby private drinking water wells.

— Freedom Communications announces the sale of Havelock News, along with other media holdings in North Carolina and Florida, to Halifax Media Group.

— The N.C. Senate places ferry fees in the state budget.

— Havelock High School graduates 279 seniors at commencement.

— Havelock Public Services Director Dan Harbaugh resigns after three years to take another public works position in the mountains.

— A prescribed burn gets out of control and burns more than 21,000 acres in the Croatan National Forest, sending dense smoke into the area for two weeks.

— Havelock police continue to receive numerous reports of vehicle break-ins and larcenies in the city.

— Some Havelock residents express disapproval at proposed traffic patterns related to construction of the U.S. 70-Slocum flyover interchange.

— A husband is charged with felony death by motor vehicle after he crashes his car into the side of the Church Road Bridge on June 22, killing his wife.

— Richard Madore, 37, of Havelock, dies in a motorcycle crash south of New Bern on U.S. 70 after exceeding the safe speed.

— Two Jacksonville men, Ashton Ricky Lee Eldridge, 17 and a 15-year-old juvenile, are arrested in connection with a series of vehicle break-ins and larcenies in the city.

— Havelock’s board approves a $21.3 million budget that keeps the tax rate at 46.5 cents per $100 in property valuation.

July

— A severe thunderstorm with winds at 84 mph blows through Havelock, knocking down trees and knocking out power. A wind-swept ferry with 12 vehicles gets blown off course and stuck on a shoal for eight hours.

— A Texas man, Jason Scott Scoggins, 21, is charged with breaking into vehicles on East Sherwood Drive, West Sherwood Drive and Barden Drive.

— A Havelock woman and her two children are found safe after a two-month search that led to Mexico and Texas.

— Ferry fees are dry docked during final negotiations on the 2012 state budget.

— Fleet Readiness Center East extends early retirement to 140 civilian workers as part of a re-organization, with 100 accepting.

— N.C. Rep. William Wainwright, who had served Craven County and eastern North Carolina in the General Assembly for more than two decades, dies July 17 at the age of 64.

— A 16-car train full of coal derails at the entrance to Cherry Point blocking traffic on Fontana Boulevard.

— The city announces plans to dissolve the Havelock Historical Preservation Society and take over the historic Trader Store and railroad freight depot.

— Tyler Horner and Conner Heath of New Bern and Joshua Melkonian of Havelock are arrested and charged in a series of vehicle break-ins in Havelock.

— Cherry Point Marine Staff Sgt. Jessie C. McDonald is named Marine of the Year by the Marine Corps Times.

— Former Gurganus Elementary School teacher, Matthew Metcalf, 40, of Carolina Pines, pleads guilty to a charge of producing child pornography over the Internet and receives a sentence of 17 1/2 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised probation.

August

— Kristin Armstrong, 38, a former Cherry Point resident, wins a gold medal in cycling at the Summer Olympics in London.

— The DOT selects alternative No. 3 as its preferred route of the proposed 10.3-mile, four-lane U.S. 70 bypass around Havelock. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2015.

— Havelock High School’s graduation rate hits 92 percent, the highest in Craven County, in a report on the ABC’s of Public Education for year 2011-12.

— Havelock votes to move forward with a $450,000 plan to fix problem roadways in the city.

— Havelock native Army Spc. Roger Bryan Daniels miraculously survives after a bullet pierces his helmet while serving in Afghanistan.

September

— Havelock looks west to a 47-acre tract on Lewis Farm Road to build a new recreational park.

— Havelock dedicates its 9/11 Memorial in a solemn ceremony attended by about 300.

— Ralph Roeland, the former chief of the Township Six Volunteer Fire Department, receives the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

— Greg Purvis is named new director of the Aviation Systems Technology program at Craven Community College’s Havelock campus.

— The Cherry Point Base Exchange reopens after a week in which it had been closed because an employee had tested positive for Legionnaire’s disease.

October

— An extensive fish kill fouls the beaches of Flanner’s Beach for nearly three weeks.

— Two Havelock High teachers resign after a student nearly drowns on a field trip they were supervising to the Crystal Coast.

— Amtrak bus service starts from Havelock to Wilson to connect with train service up and down the East Coast.

— Odessa Clay is arrested and charged with illegally tattooing her 11-year-old daughter.

— Bill Ebron is named the new director of public services in Havelock.

— Janie Queen, a 20-year-old Havelock High graduate, dies Oct. 18 when her car leaves the road and plunges into Slocum Creek near the Church Road Bridge.

— An estimated 25,000 attend the Havelock Chili Festival, and reigning champion David Lorenz takes home the top prize again.

November

— Voters turn out in big numbers early and on Election Day to mark their ballots in the 2012 election in which President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Walter Jones are re-elected. Norm Sanderson is elected to N.C. Senate, and Michael Speciale is elected to N.C. House.

— A family escapes after a passerby warns them that their camper is on fire on Nov. 13.

— Havelock High football coach Jim Bob Bryant gets some help from his players in proposing to girlfriend Colleen Ogles on the football field after a playoff victory.

— Demetri Shavar Berry, 28, is killed in a shooting at the Kelly Park Apartments, but an investigation reveals the gunman, Marvin Lovell Norris, was defending himself inside a locked apartment, and he is not charged.

— Havelock commissioners approve initial plans for $1.8 million new city hall building.

— A fire started by a child with a lighter on Thanksgiving night destroys a Havelock family’s home at 122 Karol Drive.

December

— Havelock Middle School teacher Diane Lewis is named grand marshal for the Havelock Christmas Parade.

— Havelock High School wins the state 3A football championship for second year in a row.

— Havelock commissioners delay action on the Lewis Farm Road park idea after local residents come out in opposition.